Published: August 25, 2008 09:59 pm      

Catlettsburg clerks bring a fresh perspective, tools to job

CATLETTSBURG — There are some new faces at the City Building in Catlettsburg.

Susan Harper Spencer, 52, is the city’s new clerk/treasurer and Kay Cole, 54, is the new deputy clerk.

Spencer started with the city as deputy clerk in mid-May. She was then promoted to clerk when former clerk Pauline Hunt retired at the end of July after 34 years of service.

Cole was hired as deputy clerk in the beginning of August.

Both women are Catlettsburg natives and have known each other their entire lives and work well together, they said.

Together the pair has been working diligently to learn the jobs and to bring Catlettsburg into the 21st century with technology.

The pair recently converted the city’s financial records to Quicken and QuikBooks and have created an electronic database to manage the tax records and payments. They also plan to revisit the city’s tax rolls for the last seven years to attempt to collect old unpaid taxes.

They are also working to compare a list of all the city’s registered vehicles to the list of taxpayers who have gotten city stickers. Again, enforcement and revenue is the main goal, they said.

According to city officials, all the updating has already been beneficial, garnering thousands in extra funds.

An average of $54,000 in the general fund was discovered after the first month on QuikBooks and some duplication in bills the city had paid was also found. The pair also discovered the city had been paying a phone bill for a line that was no longer in use at the city.

“Technology brings things out that you may overlook,” Spencer said.

Both women said they are looking forward to continuing their progress and are learning as much as they can in other areas to benefit the city.

The women also plan to launch a Web site for the city, which will include all city ordinances, meeting minutes and links to the police and fire departments.

“We want to start fresh and move on for the benefit of the city. We really care about the town. We want to see the town progress. We want to put Catlettsburg back on the map,” Spencer said.

“We want to move forward, that is our goal,” Cole said.

Spencer recently attended municipal clerk training and a grant writing workshop. She also plans to attend the League of Cities annual conference and join the Kentucky Clerks Association to get even more contacts and ideas about how to improve.

“We kind of came in here not knowing, we had to walk ourselves through everything,” Spencer said. “We’ve had a lot of support from the mayor and the council.”

Mayor James Allen Lambert also praised the women. “I like that they want to learn more,” he said.

Spencer moved back to Catlettsburg from Lexington about five years ago with her daughter Veronica, 12. After attending Ashland Community and Technical College and earning her associate’s degree in applied systems and office technology, she attended Ohio University Southern, where she earned a bachelor’s in technical and applied studies with minors in communication and psychology.

Cole is a lifelong Catlettsburg resident. Cole and her husband Donald have two sons, Russ, 28, and Steven, 18. She worked for Kentucky Farmer’s Bank for 32 years and retired from the bank in 2005. She said she quickly learned she couldn’t stay home and decided to return to work.

CARRIE KIRSCHNER can be reached at ckirschner@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.